Get in the ‘Way-Back’
time machine and take a ride back to 1998.
Found a
young man in Seine Bight who does cabinet work and he cranked us out some beauties!
"Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer."
time machine and take a ride back to 1998.
When we
drove down here pulling our trailer, the road from Belmopan all the way to our
lot was dirt. Mud if it rained any time recently.
And when I say
mud, I mean wholey shit mud!
As we were
building, we had to make numerous trips to both Belmopan and Dangriga for
various reasons. One was for supplies.
If it had
rained, the Dangriga trip could end up being a over-nighter.
There was no
pavement, no power, no water, no phone, no nothing here in Mental Breach.
Quite a few
of us toughed it out and are still here. We didn’t bitch and complain. We knew
things would get easier one day. (we hoped anyway)
First we got
power. And yes, we had to pay for it ourselves. If you think the GOB is going
to set you up, you need a reality check. We paid dearly.
Then we got
cable TV.
Still have
no phone lines but the phone company helped us with wireless.
Then I forget
which came next, the pavement or the water.
Either way
we got both now.
Our bars and
restaurants have all improved and general entertainment has gotten better as
well.
We now get
beer delivered; all the fruit and meat trucks will stop. The appliance store
will deliver.
The delivery
trucks are not afraid to come down the road anymore.
There is a
little kids school here, two grocery stores, a welding shop, a used car lot,
and a neighborhood watch sort of system is in place.
But the
latest addition to the community is the new cop shop.
Again, if we
waited for the GOB to fund this, it would never happen.
Everything in
this building, including the building itself, was donated by the community
(except the actual officer). And as a result, it is the finest precinct house
in the area!
See what 14
years of patience can do for you. Not too bad!
A few posts
back I mentioned we needed to replace some beach furniture.
Done.
Found a
young man in Seine Bight who does cabinet work and he cranked us out some beauties!
Ordered them
on Monday and they were delivered before noon on Thursday! Beat that bitch.
So if you
thought we going to let our guests fend for themselves in the beach chair dept,
think again.
They now
have some fine seats to while away their vacation in.
Went hunting
yesterday. Bagged a few keepers.
8 comments:
Now we need an ATM. It will just be too long before the casino has theirs up and running.
Gorgeous hummingbird shots!
the water was before the pavement. By the time we bought our lot 9 years ago there were a lot of improvements since you and Adriane came, but it was still rough. I think there was phone though. I remember Buddy and Tressa having one. No cell towers though. I remember waving my US cell phone around in the air in front of Mango's trying to get a signal and if I stood in one little spot right in front of the steps I could get one! LOL!!
we got either bag phones or fixed cells very early and they up to just a few months ago were the best system we had!
buddy and tressa,, now there's a pair of aces. we got stories.
It's amazing what a community can do.
I remember our first trip here 2003. We went into Wallen's and asked if they had any wine cork screws. "We had them last week but they're all gone." me, "When will you get them in?", her, "maybe in a month or two." lolol The next trip down? We were in Wallen's once again. We brought our own this time but saw them and bought each and every one.olololol. Ya I know, selfish. So be it. We made a lot of money off of them. We learned this system real fast lololol. AAAAA the good ole days. But better days are just around the corner.
tc
Water still comes from the sky. Tastes great too - well maybe it get tangy in May with little fresh rain and heat to cook the vats.
Phones - 1st we had the bag phone. with the 3 watt power we could surf the internet with our cell years before it caught on in the US -- though at 4800 baud and 6 cents a minute it cost about 6 bucks for some thoughtful friend to send a picture of his dog. They also were before electric so I powered mine with solar and a 125 watt radio shack 110 inverter to run the laptop. Also the bag phone cost over 1.50 a minute bz. Someone would ask your number and before you could get 014 out people stopped writing -- no one called at that price.
Fixed cell came in about 98. After an election they had some of these that had been used so BTL offered them to us instead of land lines. It was supposed to be 10 cents a minute for a local call. First bill was hundreds of dollars as BTL still had them registered in Bz City --- so we were yakking not for 10 cents a call but 60 cents a minute. I remember calling Barnacle and yacking and and yacking at the new low rate. ( took months to get our hundreds of dollars back )
I too liked the fixed cell over the new gizmo we have -- took them forever to turn off all the unwanted features - voice mail etc. ( Please call me back on my cell phone so you have to pay 55 cents minute to for you to talk to me )
Yes, a regular cell would work in certain spots - now we have ugly towers every 20 feet or so - why run land lines when they can cash in on cell phone prices
Buddy and Tress? Were going to open a water ski school - ran ads on the web and took reservations - all before construction started (50 usd pickup fee to come get you at the airstrip). He wanted to put a ski jump out in front of false caye so we could all enjoy the noise. A slalom course was planned for Drunkards Caye on the lagoon, swamping fisher folk and thumping manatees. !st time I had ever seen the Peninsula come together to stop something. GOB actually stopped him.
Mmmmmmm I seem to remember altercations tween him and Mangos - both were under construction and both were stealing rain water for cement from the house/trailer between them as the owner was gone. Harsh words and almost violence.
Of course there was a lot of tension and 'violence' surrounding Mangoes when they burst on the scene.
Went from a quiet little hood -- to a hell - with Mangoes feeling that they needed to entertain he area with their music and pool tables till 2 am. People that lived outside of the noise zone thought that it was just a wonderful place (funny, same people that did not want to hear Buddy's water ski noise had no problem blasting out their neighbors with " A Little Bit of Monica" )- which led to guns being threatened, beards being pulled and owners locking themselves inside and turning up the volume. Had to listen to other neighbors pound on the door screaming to turn down the noise as the owners and customers shouted insults at the disturbed neighbors from behind their locked doors and out their windows. Fractured a lot of friendships for a long time.
When Raoul managed it -- told him that if he could keep it quiet for a year, I would go there for a meal - never had to go.
Kudos to Frank and the last several people running the place. Good food and good neighbors.
Yo Barn,
The "wholey shit mud" has moved South. We're building north of Monkey River, and it is on the MR Road, axle deep when it rains.Thaimer
Hey Annonymouse, thanks for the trip down memory lane. Those were the days my friends!
miss the mud!
A little bit of Monica...hahaha I can see it now!\
Post a Comment